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House Building

The housing minister, Mark Prisk, has pledged funding to bring forward the development of 12,300 new homes.

A £20 million government injection is anticipated to accelerate the construction of 6,300 homes at the new town of Cranbrook in East Devon, whilst funds are also being made available for a planned 6,000-home development in Milton Keynes.

The MP additionally pledged £2.5 million for housing programmes near Wokingham, where it is hoped the funds will enable local partners to solve the town's transport issues in order to deliver potentially over 10,000 new homes.

Today’s announcement is the first allocation of £225 million earmarked by the chancellor in his Autumn Statement for the delivery of 50,000 new homes in large, locally-supported housing programmes.

The funding programme for planned, large-scale sites, administered by the Homes and Communities Agency, will be targeted at schemes that are struggling to move forward because of the current economic climate.

During a visit to Cranbrook, Mr Prisk met local construction apprentices who will work on the scheme and said the Government’s investment would create jobs for young people and bring a powerful economic boost to the area.

Mark Prisk said: "This Government is serious about building more homes. That’s why we have been looking carefully at how we can accelerate large, planned housing schemes that already have the support of local people, but need help to move forward in the current economic climate.

"So I’m delighted that today I can announce our intervention will unlock the delivery of 12,000 new homes, and create thousands of jobs for local people. In the months ahead I will be announcing support for similar schemes. That means more investment, more jobs for our young people and more affordable homes for families across the country.

"We have set aside considerable funding to assist large housing programmes like Cranbrook, and I would urge anyone with similar proposals to come forward and contact my department."

Cranbrook's project manager, Mike Owen, said: “We were privileged to give Mark Prisk a tour of the development which gave him an insight into the brand new community being created.

"From the very start the development of Cranbrook has been about partnership and this announcement of funding support for Phase II continues that process.

"Without this Phase II Cranbrook would have been delayed at the end of Phase I. Instead, we have certainty in the delivery of Phase II, we can move ahead now and commit with confidence to the next key stages of the project and delivering further community infrastructure and bringing forward much needed private and affordable homes. The success of Cranbrook to-date has been underwritten by the amenities and infrastructure that we have been able to provide. In turn this has enabled the creation a real community from day one."